I’m going to go a little off-topic here to give you some more backstory about making the Drive-In Horrorshow film.

Michael and I did not have a lot of money. What we had was our time and a lot of good friends who had some experience in the film making world and were willing to work for next to nothing.

We wanted to produce the film ourselves, not write a script then shop it around for years and years until we found someone who would make it. Michael had film experience and I had done tons of music and we are both pretty good on the computer - so why the fuck not?

So...how do you make a movie with little to no money?

Why, pick a horror movie...duhhh. Horror movies fuckin’ rule. You probably agree - why else are you reading this comic? I ain't into making a date flick with meaningful dialogue about our place in the universe and fate and shit. If you want that from me, you'd have to buy me dinner and some drinks. Mai-Tais please. And besides, there is a huge market for indie horror films, not so much for dramas, and we thought we had a chance to get our film seen.

First off we had to a write a script that we could actually produce, budget-wise. So we kept the story simple. Remember, every location, character and special effect adds time and money. We only wrote as many characters as we needed - we could have a few zombies, but not an army of the un-dead.

So we wrote the script with budget always in mind. Each story can be broken down by price:

Not a lot of characters or a ton of locations. We needed good make-up but there were only a few effects shots so costs were minimal. We just needed strong acting, which we got.

We kept the monster in the shadows for most of the film to hide the fact that it had limited mobility but this also worked to our advantage. Roger Corman has said something like: “When you show the monster, the movie is over.” Horror often works best when you keep the threat hidden and then slowly reveal it. We used lighting to help set the mood and only had one location. Again, good acting made the story come to life.

This one had major special effects but only for two scenes, really. The main "Fall Apart" scene was done in one day, with a whole bunch of prep for the weeks leading up to it. Larry Jay Tish, the actor, was amazing, staying in make-up, immobilized in a bed for some seven-plus hours. We were not going to set him up again, so we shot a ton of coverage and used every second. This was our big gross-out scene so it made sense to put the time, effort, and money into it.

Again, limited characters, a fast-paced story, some gore but effective and brutal when it needed to be. Great acting.

If you want to see low-budget tricks, watch this one. Long shots, filming at night with flashlights and using the darkness for mood, simple effects with fishing line. Not a lot of sync dialogue. Lots of gushy foley (i.e. sound effects) done my Michael and I. We had limited time with our actors in this one so we made the most of it, hand holding the camera and shooting very quickly.

We were lucky because we had an awesome drive-in that needed almost no set dressing, so it helped set a mood which our actors took from there. Not a whole lot of effects, Zombie Frank and Teenage Axe Victim took a bit of time to get into makeup but that was it. We filmed the projection room scenes at an old, one-screen movie theater, which had a perfect look for the post-apocalypse.

As you can see, it boils down to good writing and good acting, not money. If you think of budget during writing you can tailor your story to it. It’s not as hard as you might think.

Producing a movie is crazy - we filmed at every friend’s, parent’s, or relative’s place; anywhere that would have us. We borrowed props. Stood in the snow waiting for the sun to rise. Cut lettuce in my bathroom (it makes a great flesh-ripping sound). Had an actress scream so loud, the neighbor thought she was fisher cat. The director took a hammer to the head. Rented the best fog machine ever. And the list goes on and on and on.

Once your film is in the can and your post production is done....you can lick your wounds, and if there enough blood, if people turn their heads in fear and scream for more, you can start all over again.

If you want to learn how to make your own movie, step-by-step, visit our filmmaker’s blog at http://driveinhorrorshow.com/Blog/